The entire show consisted of two contestants playing casino games, specifically Blackjack, Roulette, and Chuck-a-Luck. Win a round, win a prize and points relative to its pricenote . Blackjack was relatively normal, Roulette only offered Black, White, Odd, and Even as bets, and Chuck-a-Luck is a dice-based game you've probably never heard of before this. If the Bonus Bell went off, that round was played for double. The winner after six rounds (two of each game) got to spin a "Big Wheel" for a bonus prize.
It was basically an Infomercial dressed as a game show; each prize on the show was offered to home viewers, and a lot of the time between games (or even during them in some cases) was spent plugging the prizes and reminding viewers to have their credit cards ready and call now. The advertisements shown during commercial breaks were all direct-response ads furnished by the show's producers.
Shoppers Casino didn't last long; it aired from September 8 through at least the 29th.
This series provides examples of:
- The Announcer: Don Helvey.
- Bonus Round: The "Big Wheel", which wasn't big. Or much of a wheel.
- Bonus Space: The bonus bell.
- Game Show Host: Jeff Maxwell and Debbie Sue Maffett. The former is best known for his recurring role as mess tent Private Igor Straminsky on "M*A*S*H".The latter had previously served a near-pointless hostess role in Merrill Heatter's unsold High Rollers revamp Lucky Numbers in 1985.
- Home Participation Sweepstakes: There seemed to be one, although the person supposedly playing over the phone on the premiere sounded like she was in the studio. (It's been speculated that the premiere was an aired pilot, which would explain it.)
- Lovely Assistant: Cynthia "Cindy" Brooke, who later appeared in the May 2, 1989 issue
of Weekly World News, which name-dropped the show. - Promotional Consideration: About 65% of the show is dedicated to hawking the prizes and reminding viewers to call. Legacy International—who has an ad for a work-at-home scheme in the circulating episode, is credited as a production company in the credits alongside a company called Knight Productions. Also of note is that the Legacy ad, "be a contestant" spiel, and the insulation-matting ad in the aforementioned episode give the same post office box in Culver City as their addresses.
- Spell My Name With An S: Two different examples.
- The opening logo graphic gives the name as "Shoppers Casino", with no apostrophe.
- The on-set logo gives the name as "Shoppers Ca$ino", opting to spring for a dollar sign but not for an apostrophe (never mind that absolutely no cash is involved during gameplay).
- Undesirable Prize: Somewhat; would a Coca-Cola anniversary pin set or an Action Max really be that desirable?
